TOPIC 8.3

Theoretical Frameworks & Models

⏱️30 min read
📚Framework

Topic 8.3

Theoretical Frameworks & Models

Navigate the core frameworks underpinning digital economy scholarship— IBCDE, TOE, DEDI, DBE, and three-level integration models. Learn when to deploy each, how to extend them, and where sustainability, compute, and governance dimensions intersect.

⏱️Approx. 30 min

🧠Framework Navigator

🧭Stage 3 · Models

Framework Families at a Glance

We cluster widely cited frameworks into five families. Use the interactive tab switcher to compare constructs, analytical levels, and extension pathways.

IBCDE (Rong, 2022) TOE (Tornatzky & Fleischer) DEDI (Guo et al., 2024) Digital Business Ecosystems Three-Level Integration

Infrastructure–Business–Commerce–Data–Ecosystem (IBCDE)

Provides a holistic system perspective tying infrastructure layers to business models, consumer value, data governance, and ecosystem orchestration.

  • Level: Macro / national or multi-sector analysis
  • Strengths: Integrative, supports qualitative + quantitative indicators
  • Limitations: Lacks built-in sustainability and compute metrics; empirically heavy
  • Extensions: Add CADiS sustainability indicators, compute equity metrics, and data sovereignty dimensions.

Technology–Organisation–Environment (TOE)

Classic organisational adoption framework capturing internal readiness, technological characteristics, and environmental pressures.

  • Level: Firm / organisation
  • Strengths: Rich empirical grounding; adaptable constructs (e.g., digital capability, data maturity)
  • Limitations: Under-represents ecosystem and sustainability linkages
  • Extensions: Integrate ESG, data governance, and compute access as environmental drivers; add dynamic capability lens.

Digital Economy Development Index (DEDI)

DEA-based index measuring relative efficiency of digital economy inputs and outputs across regions (infrastructure, talent, innovation).

  • Level: Regional / provincial benchmarking
  • Strengths: Quantitative comparability, policy prioritisation
  • Limitations: Sensitive to indicator selection, limited cross-country comparability
  • Extensions: Incorporate sustainability weights, compute assets, and inclusion metrics to mitigate bias.

Digital Business Ecosystems (DBE)

Uses ecosystem metaphors to analyse platform-mediated coordination, coopetition, and innovation networks.

  • Level: Meso (industry/platform)
  • Strengths: Captures interdependence, power asymmetries, innovation spillovers
  • Limitations: Challenging to operationalise quantitatively
  • Extensions: Integrate data trust models, regulatory sandboxes, sustainability flows.

Three-Level Integration Models

Tri-layer schema (infrastructure, enabling environment, value creation) widely used by UNCTAD, OECD, and national strategies.

  • Level: Macro policy blueprint
  • Strengths: Communicates dependencies; policy-aligned; easy to extend
  • Limitations: May oversimplify data/compute interdependencies
  • Extensions: Add compute stack, environmental dashboards, and inclusion commitments.

Framework Selection Playbook

Match research questions to frameworks using the quick guide below.

Research Question

Recommended Framework

Analytical Level

Suggested Methods

How do national strategies balance infrastructure, compute, skills, and sustainability?

IBCDE + Three-Level

Macro

Composite indicator design, policy analysis, roadmap synthesis

What drives firm adoption of AI-enabled platforms?

TOE + Dynamic Capabilities

Firm/Organisation

Survey + SEM, case-based process tracing

Which provinces convert digital inputs into growth most efficiently?

DEDI / DEA Variants

Regional

DEA, Malmquist productivity, panel analysis

How do platform ecosystems redistribute data and value?

DBE + Platform Governance

Meso / Industry

Network analysis, qualitative governance, agent-based simulation

Integrating Sustainability & Compute

Traditional frameworks underweight environmental throughput and compute access. Research since 2022 introduces hybrid models layering CADiS metrics, compute equity, and data sovereignty onto the canonical families.

Sustainability Integration Tips

  • Embed CADiS metrics (energy, PUE, emissions, water, circularity, renewable share) as environmental constraints.
  • Model rebound effects within IBCDE infrastructure layer to avoid efficiency-paradox blind spots.
  • Combine LCA, energy statistics, and economic data to maintain alignment with policy dashboards.

Compute & Data Integration Tips

  • Augment TOE environmental context with compute availability, GPU prices, and public compute programmes.
  • Extend DBE frameworks with data trust architectures, privacy-preserving computation, and sovereignty regimes.
  • Introduce compute equity indicators (GPUs per million, cloud credits) into DEDI weighting schemes.

🎯 Key Takeaways

  • Five framework families dominate digital economy scholarship; each maps to specific analytical levels and research questions.
  • IBCDE and three-level models suit macro strategy; TOE guides organisational transformation; DEDI delivers benchmarking; DBE captures platform dynamics.
  • Framework extensions increasingly integrate sustainability metrics, compute access, and data governance to reflect 2025–2030 priorities.
  • Hybrid approaches— combining frameworks across levels— provide richer insight (e.g., TOE + DBE for platform adoption, IBCDE + DEDI for macro benchmarking).
  • Document framework adaptation explicitly (construct changes, new indicators, validation steps) to ensure transparency and comparability.

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